Caraleigh

 

Marriage license? But I don’t wanna be a fat pregnant woman when I marry him! “Uh, Braxton? I don’t want to be all poofy when we get married. I thought we would wait until after the baby was born.”

“Not happening, sweetheart. You’ll have my rings and my last name before that sweet addition comes into this world.”

I glare at him and he leans down and kisses me. “I figured we get the license and take the kids and go to the courthouse, unless you want something fancy. Then, we can have a cut ceremony at the clubhouse. I told you—I won’t be happy until the woman I love is wearing my ring, my cut and my ink. We might have to wait on the ink until after the baby is born, but two outta three ain’t bad.”

Oh this alpha man of mine! He makes me smile even when I want to be mad. “I see.”

“Glad we’re on the same page now. Then, I figured since the kids are squared away, we can go to the clubhouse, maybe get in a nap in my room.”

Nap. Ha! I know that man has sex on the brain. Again. Of course, with the pregnancy hormones kicking in, the minute he said nap, my nipples pebbled and I could feel myself getting wet again. I had no idea until he came along that I had such a sex drive! Then again, I’m finding out that even though I was married before, I had no clue how much fun could be had, either! “Yeah, I probably will need a... nap by then,” I tell him, a grin playing on my lips.

“Yeah, my little minx, I’ll be sure you’re taken care of properly,” he says with a smirk. “Now, let’s get a move on.”

Marie is stunned when Braxton makes the offer, in cash. Granted, he took off about twenty thousand and she says, “I need to call the sellers. Not sure they will come off the selling price, but since you want to pay cash and they’re in a bit of a bind, it may be a go. Can I call you in a little while? I need to go back to the office to get their information and send them over the offer.”

“That’ll be fine. We have some other errands to run, but you have my number.”

I look at him in amazement. Then I think of how much my life has changed, for the better, since moving here. My son is happy, I have a wonderful man, new daughter, a completed family waiting...just for me.

 

 

We’ve gone to the courthouse and gotten the paperwork taken care of and set up our appointment to get married. We have to wait forty-eight hours, something he wasn’t happy about, but the clerk explained it was the law. Now? We’re at a jewelry store and my jaw won’t stay closed as Braxton has the sales girl bring out tray after tray of rings. He’s looking for something specific for me so I leave him to it and head to the men’s rings.

Another clerk comes up to me saying, “Can I help you?”

“Yes, I want to look at men’s wedding bands. I have something particular in mind so hopefully you have it,” I reply.

“Let me pull out some of the trays.”

I’m so immersed in looking at the rings I don’t hear Braxton come up behind me. I’ve narrowed it down to two of them, but need to know if it will match mine. “That one there, sweetheart, it’ll go with yours almost perfectly,” he whispers in my ear pointing at the one he wants.

Turning me, he lifts my left hand and slides the most gorgeous ring on my finger. It’s a miner cut diamond surrounded by a band of smaller diamonds. “Oh, Braxton, it’s gorgeous!” I whisper.

“The matching wedding band will allow it to fit in the middle.”

Looking at my ring and the two that I was considering for him, I point to the one on the left and say, “That one, please.” Thank goodness, it’s the same one he selected!

“What size?”

Fuck if I know, I just know his fingers are big and they bring me a lot of pleasure everywhere they touch. Focus Cara, dammit! Looking at Braxton, I say, “You’ll have to tell him that, honey.”

“I wear a size eleven ring,” Braxton tells the clerk.

“Do you want an inscription?”

“Yes, can you put ‘You are my home, where I want to be’ on it?

“Normally I wouldn’t be able to do an inscription that large, but because of the size and width of the ring, it will fit just fine,” the clerk says.

Braxton chuckles and I shoot him a look. He’s so damn cocky sometimes, but if I’m being honest with myself, it’s not in an arrogant, assholeish way, so it works for him.

Once we get the rings squared away, he takes me to grab something to eat before we head to the clubhouse. “Wait, what about the kids?” I know he mentioned it before but my pregnancy brain has me forgetting the simplest things these days!

“Sweetheart, I called Mom. She, your brother and parents are all good. We need this time, just the two of us.”

“Even with Luca hurt?” I ask.

“Cara, even though we’re both coming into this relationship with kids, at the end of the day, it’s just going to be you and me. We have to make sure we have a solid foundation, and that means we have to have time with one another with no kids and no distractions.”

I think about what he’s saying and realize that he’s right. We do need ‘us’ time, uninterrupted from the kids. And with all that we did today, we’ve got a lot to talk about. “Yeah, I agree.”